What No one Ever Knew
by Annelisse
Summary: Harry discovers a riddle that the trio must solve-- or it could lead to death. Lord Voldemort is back, stronger than ever.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this fic are mine. They were all created by J.K. Rowling and are the property of her and Warner Bros.  
  
**CHAPTER ONE**

****  
  
  
HERMIONE  
  
Hermione fingered the chain on her neck. She smiled, and thought of the events that had occurred in the past year. Strange... she thought. She could almost hear bells ringing- softly, somewhere in the distance. She murmured to herself, and then, as if in a trance, she walked out of the room.  
She could feel her feet moving of their own accord. They were taking her somewhere- where? She didn't know. There was a longing, a burning deep inside her for something. What? She didn't know that either. Confused, she watched her feet as they took her somewhere, somewhere...  
Hermione Granger awoke, panting. She was a girl of 16 with bushy brown hair and brown eyes. The cleverest witch in her year, she was sensible, practical, and always reading. However, a dream of this sort was the type of thing that troubled her.  
She wasted no time in heading to the library, though it was very early in the morning. She knew that she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep if she were to try, and anyway, she was not the type to waste time sleeping when there was important research to be done. It wasn't exactly that the dream itself had been so important, but the feeling that came with it had been indescribable- full of meaning.  
  
The library was dimly lit, but she could just barely make out the names of the books. Hermione searched. After what seemed like hours, she found the right one: Dream Interpretations, it was called, by Briareus Gooseshackle.

LUNA  
  
Luna Lovegood looked at her watch. It was almost noon, and he still hadn't come. Neville had been supposed to meet her there at 11:00, but he must have forgotten, as he often did. She sighed. It was hard having a boyfriend who didn't remember you from one moment to the next, even if he was very sweet.  
Her shoulders drooping, she headed back into the castle, thinking about Neville Longbottom. At the end of his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he had asked her out, and being the dreamy and romantic sort of person that she was, she had accepted. Perhaps a more practical girl than she would have turned him down, knowing it was to turn out less than perfect, but Luna had never been asked out before. She knew she was not in any position to refuse an offer.  
Her whole life, people had made fun of her. "Loony Lovegood", they called her. It hadn't been easy, but as the insults got much worse, she had learnt not to care. She had created a sheltered little world of her own in which to live, and became almost unaware of the goings-on in the outside world from day to day. Now suddenly, as adolescence came her way, she had been jolted back to reality. It hadn't been pleasant.

HARRY  
  
"Stop it, Ron!" Harry Potter laughed, pushing his best friend away. Harry was a short, skinny boy with jet-black hair that could never be kept tidy, and bottle green eyes. But of all his physical attributes the one that stood out the most was the lightning shaped scar on his forehead.  
Today, he was sitting in the Gryffindor common room with his best friend, Ronald Weasley. The two were playing wizard's chess, and as usual, Ron was beating Harry.  
"Should I move there, and sacrifice my bishop for a rook, or..."  
"Bad move! Look, this is where you should have gone..."  
"But if I do that won't I..."  
"Ha! Got your queen!"  
"Why do I even bother playing this with you? You're so bloody good..."  
As the people in the common room left to go to lunch, Harry watched, and then, when he was sure the only two in the room were Ron and himself, he pushed the chessboard away.  
"What did you do that for?" Ron asked loudly, annoyed. Harry shushed him.  
"I have to show you something," was all he would say.  
  
The boys walked over to the fire and Harry pulled out his wand.  
"Gionotium!" He whispered. Bright purple sparks flew from the end of his wand into the flames. Words appeared in the fire: 

_If werewolf turns to face the moon,  
After the time when stag I did slay,  
Two marauders there are left,  
And Deradril's founders waste away._


	2. Chapter 2

This is the same disclaimer that I used for Chapter One, obviously, so if you read it already, don't waste your time in doing so again: None of the characters in this fic are mine. They were all created by J.K. Rowling and are the property of her and Warner Bros.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Oh yeah, and if you think the riddle is really obvious or the story is getting too complicated, please review and tell me so. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Thanks!

**CHAPTER TWO**

HARRY

'What in the world is that supposed to mean?' Ron sputtered, looking blankly from the fire to Harry's face.

'No idea. I thought you might have some clue.' Harry shrugged, "Maybe Hermione'll be able to figure it out."

'God, she's brilliant. I dunno what we'd do without her. If anyone's able to figure it out, she--' Ron stopped abruptly, embarrassed, looking at Harry's befuddled expression. He changed the subject quickly.

'How did you find that riddle, anyway? And what was that thingy you said- Jee onnie totum?'

'Oh, yeah. I was getting to that. S' a bit strange, actually. I… er, well. Ok,' Harry didn't know whether to tell Ron the truth or not. He didn't want his best friend to get really nervous and excited—and maybe tell someone. Somehow, it seemed important that this be kept secret. He didn't know why, but all of a sudden he felt a surge of selfishness: He, Harry, would be the only one to know how he had found out about the riddle. It's funny, he thought, I can almost hear a little voice inside of me hissing _lie, lie. _Harry frowned. For a moment, he could swear, there was something familiarly snakelike about that voice.

HERMIONE

It had been two weeks, and still Hermione couldn't find any interpretation of her dream. She had had that same dream every night- and by now she was restless.

She tried to tell herself to put it aside; that it didn't really matter— but always it came to haunt her. She wanted to know what it meant _so much…_

She pushed everything else to the back of her head and went to look for Ron and Harry, seeing as she had to make sure they were studying. That afternoon the three of them were to have a History of Magic exam, and Hermione was quite sure that neither Ron nor Harry had been taking notes the whole term.

It didn't take her long to find them. As she headed up to the Gryffindor common room, she could hear them talking in hushed voices about something- and it wasn't History of Magic.

'I dunno. No clue what that line means, a werewolf and a moon?' Harry was saying.

'Yeah. Never mind that part,' Ron muttered, "What about the stag? I dunno anything about stags— isn't your patronus one?"

'Uh huh. You can't kill a patronus, though-'

They both stopped abruptly; frozen still the second Hermione entered the room.

LUNA

Luna sat at the Ravenclaw table, eating her lunch sullenly, while all around her was the buzz of cheerful, friendly conversation. She looked about herself bitterly, longing for the one thing that everyone else had and she hadn't. Friends.

Last year she had thought that was all over. She had fought He-who-must-not-be-named's death eaters with Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and Ron and Ginny Weasley. Without her there, a few of them might have died- but no, it was too much to ask for their friendship. They had friends, she had none, and Luna had learned it would be that way forever.

HARRY

'Oh, it's just you, Hermione. You got us really scared there, for a moment.' Harry told his female best friend shakily.

'Yeah," Ron frowned, "We've got something to show you.'

The boys took Hermione to the fire, blazing in the hearth. Harry cast the spell.

'Gionotium!' They watched, once again, as the riddle formed in the fire, and Hermione looked at it with worried interest. When she was done reading, she spoke.

'Harry, I have an sure feeling this has something to do with Lord Vol-demort.' She said, struggling to make herself say the name. Ron shuddered, but Harry nodded.

'Yeah, that's what I reckoned, too. I mean, now that he's risen again and all, well…'

'Right.' Hermione answered shortly, and her eyes darted around the room, making sure no one was coming. Then she took out a roll of parchment and scribbled something down.

'What's that?' Ron snatched it away from her. She rolled her eyes.

'Honestly, Ron. _Must_ you be so impatient _all_ the time? I'm writing down the riddle. We can work on it during class.'


End file.
